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For example, horror tabletop roleplaying game Dread cleverly imbues horror into both its gameplay and storytelling elements, with players needing to pull blocks from a tumble tower everytime they attempt an action and the games master being encouraged to tell narratives that fit with terrifying situations - an isolated location, an overwhelmingly powerful monster and the player’s own dark pasts coming back to haunt them. Horror board games could have the potential to include some seriously innovative gameplay and narrative mechanics, considering that horror is a theme that can be deeply interwoven into an interactive experience. If this were the case, then horror board games might take some risks with their theme rather than playing it safe with just some artwork and a rulebook. As a physically interactive experience, board games could do things with horror that no other source of entertainment could. It’s a theme that deserves to be more than just a decorative feature, but should be considered right from the very start of the creation process. However, I feel that horror should be the exception to this particular rule. It is important to note that it’s often the case in the tabletop gaming industry that the design of a board game will come first, with the theme following afterwards, meaning that it rarely takes precedence. The overall approach we’ve seen the board game industry take to horror as a theme is to largely adopt recognisable tropes of the genre and implement them into a game as set-dressing. However, the same cannot be said for horror board games. Tabletop roleplaying games have seen a surge in recent years of horror themed titles that push both thematic and gameplay boundaries, from Bluebeard’s Bride to Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall. Horror is historically such an experimental genre and it’s been used in the past to explore some incredibly deep subjects, from the fears of motherhood to the terrors of capitalism, creating some of the most beloved fiction ever made. There’s something about horror, whether it’s the dreadful in-game consequences of losing or the rich history of stories and characters to draw upon, that makes it such a compelling theme for designers, publishers and players.īut as much as I love my fair share of horror board games - it might actually be my favourite kind of theme in the whole of tabletop gaming - I can’t help but sigh and wonder what we might be missing out on. From Dead of Winter to Arkham Horror, many of the most beloved modern board games of all time feature a spooky theme. When it comes to board game themes, horror is undoubtedly a very popular choice for many tabletop gamers.